Visualizing the Decline of Labor Unions

Quoctrung Bui of National Public Radio has created a time lapse visualization illustrating the decline of union membership in the United States since 1964. Each state is color coded based on percentage of its workforce belonging to a union. The data is pulled from the U.S. Census’ Current Population Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Directory of National Unions and Employee Associations. Since 1964, the United States has seen union membership drop from nearly one third of the workforce to one tenth, though not all states experienced the same rate of decline.